Objectives: To identify factors associated to recent (during the last year) intimate partner physical violence against women in Peru.
Materials and methods: Using the demographic and Family Health National Survey (ENDES) 2004- 2007 a secondary analysis was performed. 12,257 women married or living with a couple who answered the violence module were included, with this information they were assigned to a category according to the history of having been physically assaulted by their couples. Descriptive analysis and univariate and multivariate logistical regression for complex samples were done.
Results: Prevalence of physical violence at the national level was 14,5%, with variations according to the geographical areas (9,7% to 18,9%). The factor associated to a higher risk is having a couple who frequently gets drunk (OR: 7,2; 95%CI: 5,4-9,6) and having a couple controlling or limiting the woman's visits to family or friends (OR: 4,1; 95%CI: 3,3-5,0); other associated factors are history of physical aggression of the father to the mother, having had previous partners, be cohabiting, having a higher educational level than the partner and having a disbalanced decision taking in the couple. Among the factors associated with a lower risk are the communication and respect inside the couple (OR: 0,3; 95%CI: 0,2-0,3), and the fact that the woman has health insurance.
Conclusions: Many individual factors, as well as factors of the couple relationship and others are associated with a higher probability of violence against the woman. Other agents, such as the communication and the respect in the couple, could have a protective character.